It seems this column always ends up with a focus on crime. I can only expect that to become more common as the holidays approach and crime rates rise. This week’s stories are not only about crime, but the general stupidity of those who commit it. These people pictured themselves as modern day D.B. Coopers only to find themselves caught. A word to all criminals: If you are not smart enough to talk yourself out of robbing a restaurant, you are probably not smart enough to get away with it. When you are caught, you can count on me to enjoy mocking you in the hours I am not working hard at an actual job.

In my continuing attempt to find a good Monday feature, I have decided to share some of the more fun or interesting things I have read over the last week. I’m not really putting a minimum number of in because I don’t want to ever post filler. These are just random restaurant related articles that I have found or were sent to me that I thought were worth passing along. I will gage by what is clicked the kinds of stuff the majority seem interested in and will try to cater the list to it. Let’s give it a shot.

The deliberations are done. From hundreds of qualifiers, forty made the first cut. The second cut took us to eighteen. After a couple of hours of eliminations, I have the top twelve stories that happened in restaurants this week. Here are the winners.

Yesterday’s post on extra charges for the various items a guest requests caused me to ponder on a larger scale. It is remarkably common to hear guests say, “I could buy that steak/wine/etc at the store for half that much.” This is the same principle as walking into a car dealership and demanding a price based on the total price of the steel, glass, and plastic contained in the car. In both cases, the price of production goes far beyond the cost of the raw materials. Next week, I will be addressing in detail the difference between the actual cost of an item as simple as a burger and also the actual price of production. When the cost of labor and overhead is factored in, a burger is far less profitable than the average consumer would imagine.

First, it is necessary to establish as a premise that food is a commodity. A meal is comprised of many components each of which has a finite supply. There are only so many acres of wheat or corn being produced. There are also only so much beef, poultry, pork, and seafood being brought to market. This means that supply is more of less the same and therefore demand is what determines the price restaurants pay. The commodity we are all most familiar with is oil. When demand for oil rises worldwide the price rises as well. This is followed shortly by a rise in the price of gasoline. We as consumers understand why this affects gas prices, but rarely do we relate it to restaurants.